Common Roles

Defensive Wall: Zapdos excels in being able to check a multitude of foes. It can maintain momentum with either Volt Switch or U-turn, cripple foes with either paralysis or Toxic, remove entry hazards using Defog, and keep itself healthy with Roost.

Offensive: Zapdos can invest more EVs in Speed and Special Attack in scenarios where its defensive capabilities are less important. Thanks to its good typing and natural bulk, it can still offer some defensive utility, but it becomes more of a threat that can deal more damage and pick off frailer foes.

All-out Attacker: By fully investing in its offensive capabilities, Zapdos can become a deadly wallbreaker, utilizing damage-boosting items such as Life Orb and Choice Specs to punch holes against opposing defensive walls and Pokemon that resist its attacks.

Common Moves

Primary STAB Moves: Discharge, Volt Switch, Thunderbolt, Thunder

Setup Moves: Agility

Utility Moves: Defog, Thunder Wave, Roost, Substitute, U-turn, Toxic, Whirlwind, Roar

Coverage: Hidden Power, Heat Wave, Ancient Power, Extrasensory, Signal Beam

Niche Moves

Reflect / Light Screen: Zapdos has access to both Reflect and Light Screen to boost its teams defenses, but it often struggles to fit these moves into its moveslots, and it prefers for another teammate to utilize these moves.

Tailwind: Zapdos can use Tailwind to make its offensive teammates more threatening by temporarily increasing their Speed, and then safely pivoting out to them to keep up momentum.

Curse: In certain matches, Zapdos can use Curse to become a setup sweeper, as it has a useable Attack stat to clean up weakened foes with enough setup.

Common Items

Leftovers: Leftovers is the go-to item on defensive Zapdos sets, providing longevity over the course of a match and making it become increasingly frustrating for foes to take down via direct damage.

Rocky Helmet: Zapdos can don a Rocky Helmet to further punish contact attackers and deal valuable chip damage to them, allowing itself or its teammates to take down them later in a match.

Resistance Berries: Charti or Yache Berry can be used to tank a super effective hit targeted towards Zapdos, letting it threaten heavy damage or status in return.

Damage-boosting Items: If the opportunity arises, Zapdos can don either a Life Orb or Choice Specs and go on the offensive. It appreciates the damage boost from Life Orb, and it can use Roost to heal back the damage recoil caused by the item. Meanwhile, Choice Specs is harder to pull off, but the damage output it gains is a good trade-off.

Niche Items

Pinch Berries: Pinch Berries, such as Iapapa Berry, give Zapdos a one-time immediate boost to its health to allow it to maintain its presence if it does not want to rely on the slow recovery of Leftovers in specific matchups.

Light Clay: Zapdos can use Light Clay to extend the duration of both Reflect and Light Screen.

Choice Scarf: Zapdos can utilize Choice Scarf to immediately threaten faster offensive threats without setup.

Z-Crystal: Zapdos can utilize Z-Crystals on offensive sets to give it the power it needs to muscle through opposing defensive threats. Electrium Z is the most common, dealing immense damage towards unresisted targets. Firium Z can also be used to guarantee a large amount of damage with its coverage without fearing a miss with Heat Wave.

Draft Strategy

Zapdos provides a solid anchor as part of a defensive core to a team, checking a variety of threats. It should be paired with fast offensive threats and wallbreakers that it can enable to pressure foes.

Wallbreakers: Zapdos can lure in bulky Pokemon then pivot to teammates with high offensive stats to keep pressure on them. Pokemon such as Mega Gallade, Mega Mawile, and Mega Diancie are good examples to consider.

Late-game Sweepers: Zapdos can pivot to offensive teammates such as Kartana, Weavile, and Greninja to give them the opportunity to clean up weakened foes. They appreciate foes being crippled by it either through paralysis or poison, setting up the right circumstances to set up and become almost impossible to stop.

Other Entry Hazard Removers: Despite having access to Defog, Zapdos appreciates teammates that can also remove entry hazards, as it likes to consistently switch in to fulfil its defensive role, and it appreciates freeing up a move slot for additional coverage. Latios, Serperior, and Starmie are good examples to consider.

Ground-types: Zapdos struggles to deal meaningful damage to opposing Electric-types, so it should be drafted alongside powerful Ground-types such as Mega Garchomp, Zygarde, and Krookodile to deal with them.

Checks and Counters

Residual Damage: Zapdos can be worn down quickly via Toxic, which has a very wide distribution. Furthermore, it is weak to Stealth Rock, forcing it to waste turns to recover using Roost. This can shift momentum to the opponent's favor, as they can use the opportunity to set up.

Specially Defensive Pokemon: Zapdos struggles to break through special walls, especially as it has no great way of boosting its Special Attack stat. Examples include Clefable, Snorlax, and Alolan Muk.

Electric-resistant Pokemon: Electric-types resist Zapdos's STAB combination, and Pokemon such as Zeraora and Thundurus-T can also block Volt Switch via their abilities. Additionally, Dragon-types such as Kyurem-B and Mega Charizard X resist its Electric-type moves and can threaten it back with their strong attacks.